Telepresence systems, featured by the life-size, high definition (HD) video and stereo quality audio, provide a lifelike face-to-face interaction experience to people who are at distances. It delivers a unique, “in-person” experience over the converged network. Using advanced visual, audio, and collaboration technologies, these “Telepresence” applications deliver real-time, face-to-face interactions between people and places in their work and personal lives. In some cases, these products use a room-within-a-room environment along with life-size images, and high-definition resolution with spatial and discrete audio to create a live, face-to-face meeting around a single “virtual” table.
A drawback of current Telepresence systems is the inability to provide a 360° view of the participants in a conference room. In current systems all the participants in the conference have to be located on the same side facing the camera. If there is a round-table conference and the participants are spread all around the table, the cameras just offer one view and do not offer a 360° view of all the participants in the conference.
Also, in current systems these “virtual” meeting rooms have to be specifically arranged for Telepresence functionality. Typically the arrangements force all the local participants to sit in a row, with cameras and displays opposite them. This typical arrangement cuts the room in half and makes it suitable only for Telepresence.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a multipoint conference system where local participants are able to sit around a conference table, as they would naturally. New approaches are needed in three areas, 1) room, camera and display arrangements; 2) Image capture and presentation techniques, and 3) Image and data processing specifically to support a 360° view.